


Love and (Modern) Warfare

by OceanofNoise



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Gaming, M/M, Pittsburgh Penguins, Teaching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-05
Updated: 2014-05-05
Packaged: 2018-01-22 01:54:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1571717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OceanofNoise/pseuds/OceanofNoise
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Evgeni seeks Sidney's tutelage in Call of Duty. A forbidden romance blossoms in the crossfire.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love and (Modern) Warfare

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by [In the Room: Silhouettes of a Season](http://video.penguins.nhl.com/videocenter/console?catid=912&id=543319&lang=en) (15:00-15:48) in the segment where Nealer and Tanger dissed Sid's gaming skills and Sid looked like he was absolutely fuming inside. Poor guy! Geno had to make it better!
> 
> I think they still play SOCOM on their PSPs but I'm taking some liberties and saying that they're playing a new, non-existent COD game in the Modern Warefare series for the Vita. I've never played SOCOM or COD but I've played other FPS and found them to be pretty similar so I'm assuming that COD has the same gameplay as well.
> 
> Also sorry for spamming the Sid/Geno tag so much lately!

For most of Evgeni Malkin’s life, he’d never been into video games. They weren’t a big part of his childhood and he thought himself better for it, seeing how emotionally invested some of his teammates were into some of them after he’d come to live in North America. They were just meaningless video games after all. His time was better spent on other pursuits.

Then James “Spawn of Satan” Neal bought him a PS Vita with Call of Duty bundled in for Christmas and insisted that he try it out. Evgeni didn't want to seem ungrateful.

It wasn’t long before he had joined his brother in arms during their in-flight battles. They mocked his playing abilities (or lack thereof) but nevertheless accepted him into their circle because Nealsy had to be a gracious gift giver. Even if his role had been relegated to distracter.

“That was the dumbest move you could have made in your whole life.”

Now, Evgeni was new to the whole COD world but even he could tell that Sidney’s decision-making skills in that instance were particularly lacking. Never mind the fact that Evgeni had died not long after the game had begun from a headshot from said poor decision-maker. The play-by-play with added analysis Tanger rattled off after Nealsy defused their opponent’s bomb was pretty spot-on.

Evgeni raced to the lavatory the moment after his team claimed the win.

Of course, to the victor goes the spoils, and Nealsy had to take his triumphant walk towards the losing team. “We’re like, ‘How dumb is he for not planting this bomb right now?’”

Evgeni couldn’t catch Sidney’s response through the closed door but heard Nealsy’s loud and clear. “He’s by far the worst.”

“Another great move by Sidney Crosby,” Tanger added sarcastically. Evgeni could hear him slap his console down to seal the defeat.

It was pretty standard inner-team banter but on his way back to his seat Evgeni saw the curtained expression on Sidney’s face and the edges of his ears burning red.

Hmm.

 

It was no question that Sidney was a competitive individual. Everyone on the team, including Evgeni himself, shared that same trait. But Evgeni had never met anyone as focused on the most minuscule of details as Sidney Crosby. He worked to improve on everything he deemed important.

COD was apparently pretty high on his scale of importance.

Evgeni had hung out with Nealsy a lot and knew that he could be an unrepentant asshole. This was precisely why he’d come to Sidney later that day and told him that.

“I’m a grown man. Stuff like that doesn’t upset me.” Even still, Sidney crossed his arms over his chest and looked down uncomfortably.

“You so good at this game before. What happen?”

“It’s not the same game!” Sidney squawked like he'd been trying to convince everyone of this fact for ages. “It’s a new game, on a new system. A sucky game on a sucky system. But everyone switched over so I didn’t have a choice!”

That elicited a laugh from Evgeni, which in turn elicited a scowl from Sidney. “Is game fault and system fault, not Sid fault, yes?”

“Yes,” Sidney replied through gritted teeth, dead serious.

“Maybe you practice more, get better, kick Lazy’s ass, hmm?”

Evgeni couldn’t say that he was all that surprised when Sidney looked down again and mumbled “I do practice. That’s the saddest part.”

He had an epiphany just then. “We practice together. Kick Lazy’s ass together, make him cry while we laugh. Good idea, yeah?” Brilliant, more like.

“That sounds a little mean-spirited,” said Sidney, although the lilt in his voice indicated his attention.

“He deserve. He mean first.”

Sidney looked a little conflicted so Evgeni decided to draw on a little positive reinforcement. “You good teacher Sid. I still not know how play well. Lazy too big asshole to show me. But you nice guy Sid, you can show me right?”

With a sigh, Sidney said “If you think it’ll help, then we can try it.”

Nothing to it.

 

“What the fuck are you doing here?” was Sidney’s less than cordial greeting when he opened the front door of his hotel room just a crack.

“Morning,” Evgeni replied with a winning smile. “I come here to practice Call of Duty.”

“What? Now?!” he hissed.

This wasn’t a respectable way to have a conversation. Evgeni pushed the door and let himself in without invitation to do so and found Sidney wearing nothing but a towel around his hips and shaving cream on his chin. Sidney cursed and clutched at the front fold of the towel as it almost undid itself with the force of Evgeni’s entry.

Evgeni continued smiling at him, undaunted. “We start training today.” He waved the PS Vita in his hand for added emphasis, then looked down at where Sidney was still fisting the towel tightly against his torso while looking mortified. “Look good, Sid,” he added with a sleazy wink because, under the circumstances, how could he not?

Besides, he did.

“Jesus Christ Geno, just—just give me a moment.”

He really would have respected Sidney’s privacy, so he was a little offended when he heard the lock of the bathroom door click into place.

“Nothing you have I never see before!” Evgeni shouted over the running tap.

Sidney re-emerged after a short period of time, clean-shaven but still severely underdressed for company. His expression was now a glower.

“Geno, what the hell? It’s not even nine o’clock. We need to eat breakfast.”

“Yes I know Sid. But we have game today. Only time we have to practice is morning. Eat breakfast while practice, maybe?”

Sidney grumbled as he dug through his suitcase for something to wear. Even the fluffy white towel couldn't conceal the dynamic curve of Sidney's ass. “You could have texted me you know.”

“Why text? You only two doors away.”

That earned an eye roll from Sidney before he slammed the bathroom door shut again.

While he waited he stretched out on the closest double bed and booted up his PS Vita. Sometimes he just had these… urges. Sudden compulsions to play COD. It was weird, and not unlike his urges to lace up his skates and hit the ice. But mostly he just wanted to gain enough skill to blow that arrogant smirk off Nealsy's face with a well-timed grenade. It all depended on Sidney’s cooperation, really. But perhaps he was coming on a little bit strong.

Sidney exited the bathroom one last time, fully clothed. There was an apprehensive wrinkle on his forehead.

“Sid, come, sit,” Evgeni patted the empty space beside him. “Have quick question.”

Sidney pressed his lips together warily but did as told. Evgeni tilted the screen toward him. “How I get new weapons? I see Nealsy play with AK-47. I Russian. I need use AK-47.”

He saw the corners of Sidney’s mouth turn upward. “You don’t get an AK-47 until later in the game. You have to beat a certain mission to get it.”

“Oh.” He observed his character’s paltry equipment inventory, which consisted only of the default weapons provided during the tutorials, then briefly considered skipping his pre-game nap in order to progress further into the game. Sidney would probably kill him if he found out though (like he'd done virtually the day before).

“You don’t really want the AK-47 anyway. It’s not all that accurate because of the recoil.”

That Evgeni took with personal offense. He set his console down to fix a bold stare down on Sidney. “AK-47 the best weapon. Stupid Americans not know how to use.”

“The Ross Rifle is the best weapon. Except it’s not in this stupid game.”

“…What?”

“Never mind.” Sidney reached into his airplane carry-on and pulled out his own PS Vita. “C’mon, let’s go get breakfast. While we walk down I’ll show you all the weapons I’ve accumulated.”

 

By the time Evgeni had worked his way through his scrambled eggs all they had managed to do was change his scope. He didn’t like it.

“The circle one is more precise,” Sidney insisted.

“I used to one before,” Evgeni lamented, eyes still adjusting to the new ring in the middle of his screen. He was going to switch it back when Sidney wasn’t looking.

“Once you get used to it you’ll realize how good it is for sniping.” Sidney shovelled a breakfast pork sausage into his mouth and barely chewed it before swallowing. “Only sprayers and noobs use the other scope.”

Hey, what was he implying?

“Well well well, what do we have here?”

Their heads both rose up simultaneously at the voice and saw Nealsy with the smuggest look Evgeni had ever seen.

Evgeni matched his adversary’s shit-eating grin. “Lazy, you trying to listen to our secret plan?”

Nealsy’s grin faltered and was replaced with genuine confusion. “Aren’t we on the same team?”

“Not anymore,” Sidney spoke up. “I’ve claimed Geno into my squad.”

“Oh, I see,” Nealsy folded his arms in front of him and regarded Evgeni with distaste. “A double agent, were you? Well Sid, good luck with a shooter who can’t aim for shit.”

“I’m working on fixing that. Just you wait.”

“My aim not so bad,” Evgeni countered meekly.

“Hold on,” Nealsy’s arms flopped to his sides. “If you’re taking Geno, then who do I get back?” The smirk emerged again.“I guess it doesn’t really matter. With you two away from my team, anyone else would be an upgrade.”

Sidney turned his attention back to Evgeni’s screen. “You’re taking Zatkoff.”

The bruising of Evgeni’s ego was worth it just to see Nealsy’s jaw drop in disbelief.

 

The next morning Evgeni rolled to the bedside table shortly after waking up and found among his messages a text from Sid that simply said _Bring your vita to breakfast_. It was nice to begin the day with a smile, especially coming off a loss the night before.

They stowed away from their other teammates, heads close and conspiring. Sidney’s iPhone was perched against the napkin dispenser with an honest to God checklist for his lesson plan.

“When you run you should move in a zigzag pattern,” Sidney said after their first practice round. “It makes you a harder target to hit.”

Well, that much Evgeni knew. It just didn’t come naturally when your first and foremost instinct was to shoot first and shoot everything.

“Also, when you’re shooting, you shouldn’t just stand there. You should be moving. Or at least only be taking a few shots, then moving, then taking a few, then moving again. If you just stand in one spot and keep shooting someone’s gonna get an easy kill on you.”

Like Sidney did the last time they had their in-flight combat.

While Sidney was explaining the Seek and Destroy mode Tanger sauntered over to their table and not so discreetly peeked over Evgeni's shoulder.

"Can we help you?" Sidney said crossly.

"I heard from Nealsy that you traded Zatkoff for Geno."

"Yuh huh."

Tanger set his lips into a thin line. "Without consulting us. Not cool Sid. Especially with what we got in return."

Evgeni was going to shoot Tanger between the eyes at first opportunity, teammate or not.

Oh, yeah, in the game. That was what he meant, sure.

"I think it was a pretty fair trade," Sidney reasoned. "In fact I think we won. Geno's new. He has upside and could be better in the future." Sidney quirked his mouth then amended "I'm teaching him how to be better right now."

For that Tanger let out a loud, cruel laugh, causing several heads to turn their way. Evgeni could see Sidney visibly retract, edging so close to Evgeni that their shoulders pressed together. The warmth of that contact was a nice juxtaposition against Tanger's barrage of brutality. "So you can infect him with your own crappy play?" Tanger saved Sidney the shame of a weak comeback by cutting him off. "You'd better be the Mr. Miyagi of COD because if you fuck this up then you're playing for Nealsy."

Sidney wrinkled his nose at Tanger's departing figure. Then with a severe expression he turned to Evgeni. The force of that movement snatched the warmth of Sidney's shoulder away. Evgeni was suddenly hit with an inexplicable sense of distress. "Let's move on to inventory management."

 

"Stop trolling our server!"

Sidney turned back to glare at Nealsy, who was still cackling in the background. He was long done his breakfast and had taken to entering the match that Sidney had created for himself and Evgeni for the purposes of training. While Sidney was showing Evgeni effective knifing techniques the intruder had entered their game, found them on the map and slashed them both with his kukri. The surprise attack was pretty funny, Evgeni had to admit. Sidney, however, was not amused.

"That's what you get for not setting it to invite only," Nealsy replied in a sing-song voice. In a rare show of petulance, Sidney balled up a used napkin and threw it at Nealsy's head with intent to injure.

"Just as bad a shot as in COD," Nealsy remarked after dodging the attack easily. "Anyway, a bunch of us are gonna do some shopping on Robson Street. You guys wanna come with?"

"No," was Sidney's curt reply. And Evgeni, who otherwise enjoyed shopping, also turned down the offer as a sign of solidarity to his captain.

"Great. Then we can keep practicing until lunch," was Sidney's suggestion. "Without any disruptions," he added loudly for Nealsy's benefit.

Evgeni was down for that.

And that was exactly what they did, spending almost the entire morning holed up in Sidney's room lying on their backs on the same full bed. They managed to complete the interrupted lesson, although Evgeni was the first to admit that Sidney was more of a doer than a teacher. At the very least, Sidney was well-intentioned. Evgeni was appreciative of the time and all the effort Sidney had devoted on this project. He could even say that he was showing signs of improvement.

"If you pass this mission you'll get that AK-47," Sidney observed after scrolling through Evgeni's stats.

They ordered room service lunch and kept going until it was time to go work out. Evgeni was still stuck on the same mission despite replaying it for what seemed like dozens of times but progressed further and further under Sidney's instruction.

"You see the little clock in the corner, right? There's a time limit."

"What?!"

He failed to pass the mission despite another private training session with Sidney. By then he had begun to notice a strange pattern of behaviour from Flower. Oftentimes he observed his goalie and his captain engaging in whispered conversations that left Flower grinning like a Cheshire cat and Sidney frowning like a disgruntled bulldog. He caught Flower winking at them as he passed them during breakfast on that particular morning.

Evgeni asked Sidney about it while they laid on their stomachs on the bed of Sidney's hotel room, PS Vitas ready to go and a shared bag of M&Ms between them. He wondered if Flower was threatening Sidney like Tanger had, or if he had been undermining Sidney's abilities as a COD teacher, maybe even attempting a Crosby for Zatkoff and a bag of gummy worms trade?

"Flower thinks we're sleeping together."

He hadn't wondered that far ahead.

Wait, what?!

"Why he think we sleep together?" Evgeni was curious to know, because what the holy fuck?

"Well, he's just pretending that he thinks that, I'm pretty sure. He's saying that we're using the game as a cover for why we're spending so much time alone in hotel rooms together. He's a fucking dumbass. Who cares what he thinks?" Sidney sat up, shook a few M&Ms out of the bag and popped them in his mouth.

 

It wasn't like Evgeni didn't think Sidney was an good-looking guy. A fan base comprising of many young female fans pretty much validated that point. And Evgeni had seen Sidney in ways that no fan likely had, so yes, he knew for certain that Sidney was every bit as attractive as they made him out to be. Evgeni had long ago acknowledged the fact that Sidney was quite blessed genetically. It was of great benefit to his hockey. That was the extent of what Evgeni would allow himself to speculate upon when it came to his captain.

But he really didn't need Flower to over push their boundaries and direct them into the forefront of his mind. Fucking psycho goaltenders stirring up shit where they had no business treading.

Okay, maybe, just once or twice, in the deep recesses of his mind, had Evgeni wondered how strong those thighs really were, if his lips were as delicious as they looked, how it might feel to have Sidney buck against him while they were alone in the shower room. He was pretty sure that he couldn't have been the only teammate, past or present, to entertain those thoughts. And with enough alcohol to render him suggestible, Evgeni might even confess to a slight attraction. He could hardly be blamed for it. The guy was fucking gorgeous.

Sidney stretched as he chewed on the remnants of the candy in his mouth, then resettled to lie on his side. Evgeni most definitely did not notice the slice of bare skin that had been exposed from the hitching of his grey t-shirt. The crest of his hipbone was displayed prominently and the fabric bunched at where the fine, wispy hairs of Sidney's happy trail were leading down to his...

Uh oh.

Sidney shifted again, and his t-shirt fell back into place. "Did you get my invite?"

"Huh?" Evgeni's eyes darted back to the PS Vita in his hands.

"I sent you an invite. If you didn't get it go to the server called SC-EM. Hurry up so we can start shooting at each other!"

Evgeni gulped.

 

Objectively he knew that he should have suspended his COD lessons with Sidney after the road trip had ended, after he had failed the same mission so many times that he really should have considered himself a lost cause, after Sidney's arm had casually brushed his thigh, resulting in a tightening in his lap and a critical loss of focus.

But damnit Evgeni really wanted that AK-47 (and if that meant more private time with Sidney then he'd reluctantly accept that obligation). So when Sidney invited him over to continue that mission, Evgeni accepted.

He plopped himself down on the couch and lamented "I get so close to end. Have twelve health left. Then last swarm kill me."

Sidney leaned in so close that Evgeni could smell his hair. It felt like breathing in fresh air and sea water.

"Geno, hello?"

"Huh?"

"I asked you where you usually use your grenades in this mission."

Usually? There was no strategy. He just threw them in fits of desperation.

"You won't get as many experience points for doing this, but if you save your flashbang for the last swarm then it will probably give you enough time to run through them and get to the end."

"Don't care about experience. Just need beat level for AK-47."

Sidney rolled his eyes. "Experience points are more important than one particular weapon. When you rank up you gain experience points and weapons more quickly. Look at you, you're still a corporal. You should be a sergeant at the very least at this point in the game. Have you even been doing those drills I've told you to do for practice?"

What drills?

"Ugh. Never mind. Let's just beat this stupid mission."

Evgeni narrowed his eyes in concentration while Sidney kibitzed beside him. A break in the action allowed Evgeni another discreet whiff and had perhaps time to shift his weight to get a little more comfortable, and if Sidney so happened to nestle his chin against the ball of Evgeni's shoulder well then that was pure coincidence.

When he had lost yet again, Sidney reached over and studied his equipped inventory. "Get rid of the sniper rifle because you won't need it in this mission. Take the pistol instead because if you run out of ammo and you're under siege it's faster to switch equipment than it is to reload."

"You tell me this now?" Evgeni grumbled as he followed Sidney's advice.

"It's just common sense."

"Like when you not plant bomb when you supposed to," Evgeni countered.

Sidney grunted with displeasure.

With the benefit of Sidney's advice the mission did seem to move along more smoothly. He was getting close, he could taste it.

"Crouch behind the cargo box!" Sidney was pressing close, straining to look.

"I lose time," Evgeni pointed out.

"Your time right now is good. At this point you just need to not die. Take this time to reload and move your equipment around so that the flashbang is easily accessible just in case."

Evgeni took a deep breath. He could do this. He could motherfucking do this.

"Go!"

Evgeni jumped over the shipping container and sprayed with his rifle at any moving object as he ran toward the exit. His screen rimmed with red as he took damage.

"I'm hit!" His finger, slick with perspiration, slipped off the directional key of his PS Vita. He panicked as his character's vision began to blur and scrambled to regain his grip on the console's buttons.

"The last swarm is coming! Turn around, throw the flashbang and run!"

There was a disorienting screech accompanied with a burst of white as he carried out Sidney's designs.

"Run run run!" Sidney commanded, bouncing against the sofa beside him.

"Finger hurts!" Evgeni shrieked as he pressed the directional key with all his force. There was another flash of red as his character took another bullet. Evgeni cried out again in pain.

"Run backwards in a zigzag while shooting in front of you, you're almost at the end! You're gonna make it! Geno!"

Evgeni scrambled to switch to the pistol and fired the final shots as he passed through the threshold to freedom.

"Yes!" he threw his arms into the air, which in effect knocked Sidney onto his back. Delirious with victory, he couldn't resist pinning Sidney against the couch by his wrists. "I did it! I pass mission! I get AK-47!"

Sidney laughed under him, chest heaving with exhilaration. "I did most of the work!"

"Did not! You just sit there and watch!" Evgeni countered. "Because I am amazing COD player. Better player than you."

"Keep dreaming," said Sidney as he kicked his legs in effort to free himself.

Evgeni responded by gripping Sidney's wrist more tightly and pressing them harder against the couch. He anchored his weight against Sidney's hips. "Say I am amazing player. Best COD player."

"If you're amazing then it's because I made you amazing," Sidney replied with a teasing slip of his tongue between his teeth.

"Wrong answer," Evgeni said ominously before taking advantage of their positioning and tickling Sidney's ribs because, under the circumstances, how could he not?

Sidney subsequent giggles sounded ripped out of him against his will as he jerked against Evgeni, his body desperately seeking reprieve from Evgeni's onslaught of attack. It did nothing but spurn him on more.

Sidney was practically thrashing under him before he surrendered. "Please-Geno! Okay okay! You're the best!"

Evgeni stopped his hands at last, cheeks aching from laughter, lungs still struggling for breath. Sidney was flushed underneath him, his hair in disorder, shirt rucked up past his stomach, bare skin overheated...

Oh.

Evgeni's hands were still wedged between Sidney's ribs and his shirt. In the back of his mind he knew that he ought to retract himself from Sidney while he had the chance, before it was too late. But with his eyes on Sidney's, with Sidney watching back, he couldn't help letting his hands travel across Sidney's stomach, swirling his fingers in the silky hairs leading down to his...

God, he wanted it. He wanted all of it.

Besides a shaky intake of breath, Sidney didn't move. But his eyes conveyed to Evgeni everything he needed to know.

"Look good, Sid," said Evgeni, low and full of quiet meaning.

Sidney responded with a soft whimper.

Many times did Evgeni entertain these thoughts of Sidney, how his mouth might taste, how his hips might feel, how his face might look in the flush of arousal. He would learn quickly that his fantasies were no match to the real thing.

 

Evgeni woke up the next morning wondering if the entire experience had been a dream. His body felt restless and thrumming for the sensation of strong, thick thighs and full, red lips. Surely he had not gained those achievements strictly on his own merit. Sidney must have been as eager to offer as he was to accept.

When he went into morning practice that day and caught the look in Sidney's eyes he knew right then the answer.

"Road trip's coming up in a few days, Noob and Noober," Tanger said, addressing them both. "I hope you guys were practicing and not just fucking around."

Flower stifled some laughter in the background.

With determination, Sidney replied "Don't worry, we've got this."

Even still, Evgeni was not entirely surprised to see Sidney at his doorstep shortly after practice.

"Um, I thought that we could... get some more COD practice in? A-and..." Sidney's turned down head did nothing to hide his deepening blush. "Maybe some other stuff?"

He couldn't help the face-splitting grin as he grabbed Sidney by the shirtfront and pulled him inside.

They took care of the "other stuff" first, took care of it thoroughly, and never got to the main objective of Sidney's visit. Neither of them minded though.

The next day, unlike the previous, Sidney brought over his PS Vita. It saw no use anyhow.

The day after, tumbling into bed, Sidney groaned and pushed Evgeni's eager hands away. "We should probably get some actual practice in."

"Sure, later," he replied agreeably before sucking a kiss on the base of Sidney's throat. They were overdue for some COD ownage like they were overdue to discuss the greater meaning of the wonderful and terrifying things they were doing with each other's bodies but having Sidney in his bed and not helping him undress just seemed counter-productive.

Sidney rolled away, causing Evgeni to growl and bury his face in his bed sheets.

"That's what we said the last two times. Go get your Vita," Sidney instructed in that all too familiar captain's voice.

"Siiiiid," he pleaded without cause, knowing that Sidney would be unwavering. His attempt to cop one last feel was thwarted by Sidney's quick reflexes.

"Come on. You wanna kick Nealer's ass or not?"

Sure. He hadn't lost sight of the ultimate goal. But he kind of liked the idea of shooting his gun at Sidney more, so to speak.

"Fine," he grunted and slumped out of the room to retrieve his console. He wasn't sure how long the game could hold his attention but Sidney's reward for perseverance and good performance was definitely a better incentive than an AK-47.

Fortunately for him his fortitude was stronger than Sidney's. Barely thirty minutes in, after Sidney had riddled Evgeni's character with bullets and accomplished next to nothing in terms of training he flicked his PS Vita off and said "That's good enough, we're ready for tomorrow" before climbing into Evgeni's lap.

When they had both woken up from their afternoon naps, still messy from their extra-curricular activities, Evgeni sat up with a start. "I think I need more practice."

Sidney stirred beside him, looking seductively sleep and sex rumpled. There was a teasing grin on his lips. "I thought you said that you were amazing, that you were better than me. The stats say something else though."

Evgeni snarled and groped for his PS Vita.

"Don't forget the hockey game that we need to get ready for."

It would have to wait.

But he really couldn't help watching Sidney push the sheets away and walk across the room buck naked, the perfect curve of his ass coaxing Evgeni out of bed. Then he couldn't help following Sidney into the master bath. And then he couldn't help pressing Sidney against the shower wall while sucking hungry kisses against his mouth.

There was something quite ironic about a mentor that lured him away from some much needed training, but he couldn't really say he cared all that much.

 

"You motherfuckers ready for this?" Tanger looked over Evgeni's head to fix a glare at Sidney.

Sidney matched Tanger's look. "Let's fucking go."

Evgeni was pretty sure some of that was false confidence because he was the first to recognize his personal limitations and knew that he definitely was not up to par with his comrades. From the way Sidney utterly destroyed him in yesterday's quick practice round the knowledge should have been common between them. The only thing he could hope for at that point was divine intervention.

His calls were not heeded.

"I'm down," Evgeni said only thirty seconds into the game.

Sidney turned to him with his mouth agape. "Are you serious?!"

In that blink of a moment when Sidney's attention was diverted there was a shout from the back.

"Gotcha both!" Nealsy exclaimed with a fist pump.

"No! What the fuck?!" was Sidney cry of agony. He turned his attention back to his PS Vita, where the kill was confirmed.

In no time flat, Nealsy's team had eliminated the rest of their competition, then retrieved and defused the bomb (their most recently acquired mercenary being the only casualty).

"Wow. Just wow." Tanger set his console down and spoke over Nealsy's jubilant shouts. "That is an all-time new record for shittiest sequence of events in one game. Unbelievable."

"Sweet, I still levelled up!" Zatkoff cheered from the back of the plane.

"These two need to be quarantined," was Tanger's continued condemnation. "Sid's terrible play has apparently been rubbing off on Geno."

"Probably not the only thing rubbing off on him," Evgeni heard Flower mutter, his voice carrying further than what he had likely intended.

"It's like you guys didn't even practice at all. I've bore your burden for long enough," Tanger sighed and shook his head. "Nice knowing ya guys, you two are going to Nealer's team. Major Neal, they are your problem now."

Nealsy stopped in mid victory dance. "Wait, what? Says who? I didn't agree to that."

Even as Tanger and Nealsy began arguing over each other's voices, even as he heard his own name cursed to high hell, Evgeni really couldn't bring himself to be all that upset about the loss. And when his eyes met Sidney's and saw an attractive colouring of his cheeks coupled with a bitten off smile, Evgeni could tell that neither could he.


End file.
